1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to technology for a gas component collector, a gas component collecting device, a filter producing method, and a gas component analyzing apparatus and method that analyzes trace components in gas.
2. Description of the Related Art
The gas components of exhalation include trace metabolites produced inside the body of the person under test, and it is known that the concentrations of the trace metabolites or metabolic products themselves change depending on whether or not the person has a disease. Fundamental studies are in progress so as to help with diagnosing diseases by collecting and analyzing trace metabolite components from exhalation.
As explained above, technology of collecting trace metabolites, an exhalation collecting device has been proposed which collects components of exhalation by a collecting section having a cylindrical vent pipe in which a drying tube filled with a desiccant and an adsorbing tube filled with an adsorbent for carbon dioxide are inserted (refer to, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. H09-210875 (hereinafter called reference 1), claims 1 and 4). The vent pipe of the collecting section of this exhalation collecting device has caps attached to opposite ends thereof to keep the inside of the vent pipe airtight. As for collecting exhalation gas, it is preferable to introduce exhalation at as low speed as possible through the opening of the entrance cap, and in order to adjust the flow speed, air-flow resistance is controlled through the diameter of the vent pipe, the opening diameter of the exit cap, and the grain sizes and filling densities of the desiccant and adsorbent.
Furthermore, a simple method and device for collecting atmospheric material has been proposed where porous bodies of an open structure having an appropriate length are formed inside a bare pipe made of metal, fused silica, or the like so as to fill the inside and where gas in the atmosphere is introduced by diffusion into the porous bodies of an open structure (refer to, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2002-328077 (hereinafter called reference 2), claim 1).
In the reference 1, there is no specific description of the length and diameter of the adsorbing tube to reduce pressure loss. If pressure loss in the collecting section is high, the burden on a person under test breathing out exhalation may be great.
In the reference 2, there is no specific description of the method of reducing pressure loss when applied to the collection from exhalation gas to have exhalation actively introduced thereto. Further, there is no specific description of air-tightness before and after sampling, i.e., contamination before and after sampling.